LAND ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT

Land Administration and Management

Land Administration and Management

History and Development of Cadastre & Land Administration

This review is based on two case studies of countries, namely Nigeria and Netherland. These countries were chosen because it was considered that they had undertaken innovative land administration exercises and/or there had been important project interventions. The two case studies were undertaken using existing material and no new research was done specifically for the study, which has meant that there are numerous gaps in the data. However, two case studies were done, more than in the other regions, to try and fill these gaps and create an overall picture.

Land as an economic factor is getting less and less important in the Netherlands. In terms of macro economic added value, the agricultural sector decreased from 2,8% in 2000 to 2,3% in 2004, while the financial, business & health service sector in the same period increased from 37,6% to 41,2 % (total added value 432 billion euros). The number of farms decraesed from 97,000 to 85,000. The amount of agricultural land decreased slowly (30,000 ha), so the average farm size grows.

In a country with 16,3 million inhabitants on 41,528 square km (81% land, 9% inland water, 10 % sea) built areas cover 11% which area is growing (351 mln ha in 1996, 367 mln ha in 2000). In 1997 40% of the population lived in urbanized areas, in 2000 this increased to 42%. (increase of 549,000 people). This equals the growth of the population as a whole in that period.

Land administration in Africa and Nigeria consists of the conventional land administration systems based on land registration and; customary and/or informal land administration systems. As Table 1. illustrates, the vast majority of African countries' populations use the customary land administration system, especially in rural areas. As most African cities are 30-80 percent informal (UNCHS:1990:4, 1991:3), most urban residents are also not using the formal land registration and administration system in urban areas.

Table 1: Formal and customary coverage

Title and customary

Nigeria

Netherland

Customary coverage

Majority of population

78% of total area

Title/deed coverage

Majority of surface area but not majority of population

Unknown

No. of registered titles/deeds

Unknown

11,383 titles /deeds unknown

Due to the complex nature of the cadastre and property rights, colonial land administration laws and regulations remain entrenched in many countries still to this day in Nigeria and Netherland (United Nations:1997:4). In a number of countries, such as Netherland, Nigeria, and South Africa, new land registration laws have been or are being introduced and discussed. These laws are an attempt to move away from colonial forms of land administration on the one hand, but also to develop land administration systems and laws that more closely reflect the social land tenures on the ground (customary and/or informal).

A review of the land registration, cadastral and land information management systems in Nigeria and Netherland indicates that:-

Less than 1 per cent of sub-Saharan Africa is covered by any kind of cadastral survey (UNCHS:1991:3, 1990:4) and the case studies show that the vast majority of people ...